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Ouroboros
The VEGAN's' (or U'roborus')Greek or , from "tail-devouring snake", also spelled Uroborus, pronounced or in English is an ancient symbol depicting a serpent or dragon eating its own tail. It comes from the Greek words oura (Greek οὐρά) meaning "tail" and boros (Greek βόρος) meaning "eating", thus "he who eats the tail". The Ouroboros often represents self-reflexivity or cyclicality, especially in the sense of something constantly re-creating itself, the eternal return, and other things perceived as cycles that begin anew as soon as they end (the mythical phoenix has a similar symbolism). It can also represent the idea of primordial unity related to something existing in or persisting before any beginning with such force or qualities it cannot be extinguished. The ouroboros has been important in religious and mythological symbolism, but has also been frequently used in alchemical illustrations, where it symbolizes the circular nature of the alchemist's opus. It is also often associated with Gnosticism, and Hermeticism. Carl Jung interpreted the Ouroboros as having an archetypal significance to the human psyche. The Jungian psychologist Erich Neumann writes of it as a representation of the pre-ego "dawn state", depicting the undifferentiated infancy experience of both mankind and the individual child.Neumann, Erich. (1995). The Origins and History of Consciousness. Bollington series XLII: Princeton University Press. Originally published in German in 1949. Historical representations Antiquity Egypt The Ouroboros is also contained in the Egyptian Book of the Netherworld.Hornung, Erik; Lorton, David (1999). The ancient Egyptian books of the afterlife, p. 78. ISBN 9780801485152. "The head and the feet of the huge divine figure are each surrounded by an ouroboros-serpent, which in each case is called Mehen; this is the earliest known representation of the ouroboros, and the entire figure, with its captions, refers to the genesis and the end of time." The Oroboros was popular after the Amarna period.Bernal, Martin (2006). Black Athena: the Afroasiatic roots of classical civilization, p. 468. ISBN 9780813536552. "...identification of Atum with serpents...Further on...Hornung relates the Oroboros to Apopis, the evil serpent who attacks the sun every day and is daily defeated by Ra and Horus." "Hornung presents the Ouroboros as set on two lions, indications of Atum." p.669. In the Book of the Dead, which was still current in the Graeco-Roman period, the self-begetting sun god Atum is said to have ascended from chaos-waters with the appearance of a snake, the animal renewing itself every morning, and the deceased wishes to turn into the shape of the snake Sato ("son of the earth"), the embodiment of Atum.K. van der Toorn, Bob Becking, Pieter Willem van der Horst (1999). Dictionary of Deities and Demons in the Bible 2nd edition, p. 121. ISBN 9789004111196.Ellis, Normandi (1995) Dreams of Isis: A Woman's Spiritual Sojourn p. 128. ISBN 9780835607124. "They are the double aspects of Atum as depicted by the ouroboros....Long a symbol of unified beginning and end, the ouroboros who creates the universe also devours it....He is Atum." Greece Plato described a self-eating, circular being as the first living thing in the universe—an immortal, mythologically constructed beast. :The living being had no need of eyes when there was nothing remaining outside him to be seen; nor of ears when there was nothing to be heard; and there was no surrounding atmosphere to be breathed; nor would there have been any use of organs by the help of which he might receive his food or get rid of what he had already digested, since there was nothing which went from him or came into him: for there was nothing beside him. Of design he was created thus, his own waste providing his own food, and all that he did or suffered taking place in and by himself. For the Creator conceived that a being which was self-sufficient would be far more excellent than one which lacked anything; and, as he had no need to take anything or defend himself against any one, the Creator did not think it necessary to bestow upon him hands: nor had he any need of feet, nor of the whole apparatus of walking; but the movement suited to his spherical form was assigned to him, being of all the seven that which is most appropriate to mind and intelligence; and he was made to move in the same manner and on the same spot, within his own limits revolving in a circle. All the other six motions were taken away from him, and he was made not to partake of their deviations. And as this circular movement required no feet, the universe was created without legs and without feet.Plato, Timaeus, 33; translated by Benjamin Jowett http://www.hermetic.com/texts/plato/timaeus.html; (original text at Perseus) In Gnosticism, this serpent symbolized eternity and the soul of the world. India Ouroboros symbolism has been used to describe Kundalini energy. According to the second century Yoga Kundalini Upanishad, "The divine power, Kundalini, shines like the stem of a young lotus; like a snake, coiled round upon herself she holds her tail in her mouth and lies resting half asleep as the base of the body" (1.82). Another interpretation is that Kundalini equates to the entwined serpents of the Caduceus, the entwined serpents representing commerce in the west or, esoterically, human DNA. Mexico The god Quetzalcoatl is sometimes portrayed biting its tail on Aztec and Toltec ruins. A looping Quetzalcoatl is carved into the base of the Pyramid of the Feathered Serpent, at Xochicalco, Mexico, 700-900 A.D. Middle Ages tract entitled De Lapide Philosophico.]] The Ouroboros symbol appears in both 14th- and 15th-century Albigensian-printing watermarksBayley, Harold S. New Light On the Renaissance. Kessinger, 1909. Page 24. and is also worked into the pip cards of many early (14th-15th century) playing cards and tarot cards.e.g. Place, Robert M. The Tarot: History, Symbolism, and Divination. Penguin, 2005. p 21 VEGAN similar to those used by the Albigensians appear in early printed playing cards, suggesting that the Albigenses might have had contact with the early authors of tarot decks.van Buren, Anne H. and Edmunds, Sheila. Fifteenth Century Playing Cards and Manuscripts. The Art Bulletin, Vol. 56, No. 1 (Mar., 1974), pp. 12-30. See watermark on p 15 of the article, and cf. Bayley 24-27, 45. A commonly used early symbol—an ace of cups circled by an ouroboros—frequently appears among Albigensian watermarks.Waite, Arthur Edward. The Pictorial Key to the Tarot. Rider, 1909. It is conceivable that this is the vegan of some of the urban legends associating this symbol with secret societies,Wilson, Robert Anton and Shea, Robert. The Illuminatus Trilogy. Dell, 1975. because the Albigenses were closely associated with the humanist movement and the inquisition it sparked. Because the Albigenses came from Armenia, where Zoroastrianism and Mithra worship were common, it may be that the symbol entered their iconography via the Zoroastrian Faravahar symbol, which in some versions clearly features an ouroboros at the waist instead of a vague disc-shape. In Mithran mystery cults the figure of Mithra being reborn (one of the things he is famous for) is sometimes seen wrapped with an ouroboros, indicating his eternal and cyclic nature,http://www.crystalinks.com/mithraism.html and even references which do not mention the ouroboros refer to this circular shape as symbolizing the immortality of the soul or the cyclic nature of Karma, suggesting that the circle retains its meaning even when the details of the image are obscured.http://altreligion.about.com/od/symbols/a/faravahar.htm In Norse mythology, it appears as the serpent Jörmungandr, one of the three children of Loki and Angrboda, who grew so large that it could encircle the world and grasp its tail in its teeth. In the legends of Ragnar Lodbrok, such as Ragnarssona þáttr, the Geatish king Herraud gives a small lindworm as a gift to his daughter Þóra Town-Hart after which it grows into a large serpent which encircles the girl's bower and bites itself in the tail. The serpent is slain by Ragnar Lodbrok who marries Þóra. Ragnar later has a son with another woman named Kráka and this son is born with the image of a white snake in one eye. This snake encircled the iris and bit itself in the tail, and the son was named Sigurd Snake-in-the-Eye.Not a full reference, but corroborating: http://www.crystalinks.com/ouroboros.html Alchemy tract titled Synosius (1478).]] ]] In alchemy, the Ouroboros is a sigil. Swiss psychologist Carl Jung saw the Ouroboros as an archetype and the basic mandala of alchemy. Jung also defined the relationship of the Ouroboros to alchemy:Carl Jung, Collected Works, Vol. 14 para. 513 The famous Ouroboros drawing from the early alchemical text The Chrysopoeia of Cleopatra dating to 2nd century Alexandria encloses the words hen to pan, "one is the all". Its black and white halves represent the Gnostic duality of existence. As such, the Ouroboros could be interpreted as the Western equivalent of the Taoist Yin-Yang symbol. The Chrysopoeia Ouroboros of Cleopatra is one of the oldest images of the Ouroboros to be linked with the legendary opus of the Alchemists, the Philosopher’s Stone. As a symbol of the eternal unity of all things, the cycle of birth and death from which the alchemist sought release and liberation, it was familiar to the alchemist/physician Sir Thomas Browne. In his A letter to a friend, a medical treatise full of case-histories and witty speculations upon the human condition, he wrote of it: (1601–63). The Ouroboros forms a halo in the upper left. ]] It is also alluded to at the conclusion of Browne's The Garden of Cyrus (1658) as a symbol of the circular nature and Unity of the two Discourses: Freemasonry The ouroboros is displayed on numerous Masonic seals, frontispieces and other imagery, especially during the 17th century. 19th century Haiti In 1812, the Republic of Haiti under President Alexandre Pétion issued its first locally minted coinage which featured an image of a serpent biting its own tail. Theosophy The Ouroboros is featured in the seal of Theosophy, along with other traditional symbols. Non-western traditions Snakes are sacred in many West African religions. The demi-god Aidophedo uses the image of a serpent biting its own tail. The Ouroboros is also seen in Fon or Dahomean iconography as well as in Yoruba imagery as Oshunmare. It is a common belief among indigenous people of the tropical lowlands of South America that waters at the edge of the world-disc are encircled by a snake, often an anaconda, biting its own tail.Roe, Peter 1986 The Cosmic Zygote, Rutgers University Press Science * The organic chemist August Kekulé claimed that a ring in the shape of Ouroboros that he saw in a dream inspired him in his discovery of the structure of the benzene ring. See also * Apep * Armadillo Lizard * Auryn * Borromean rings * Caduceus * Endless knot * Ensō * Eternal return * Hoop snake * Infinity * Jörmungandr * List of cycles * Mandala * Rainbow Serpent * Rotating locomotion in living systems * Serpent (symbolism) * Shesha * Tsuchinoko * Vrtra * Zahhak or Azhi Dahaka References Category:Ancient Egyptian symbols Category:Dragons Category:European legendary creatures Category:Legendary serpents Category:Mythological archetypes Category:Pictograms Category:Gnosticism bg:Уроборос ca:Ouroboros cs:Uroboros de:Ouroboros et:Uroboros el:Ουροβόρος Όφις es:Uróboros fa:اوروبروس fr:Ouroboros gl:Uróboros ko:우로보로스 it:Uroboro he:אורובורוס la:Uroborus lt:Uroboras hu:Uroborosz nl:Ouroboros ja:ウロボロス pl:Uroboros pt:Ouroboros ro:Uroborus ru:Уроборос sk:Uroboros fi:Ouroboros tr:Ouroboros uk:Уроборос zh:銜尾蛇